Mr President, Sir, as the Chief Custodian of the security of our nation,we have come to you with tears on our faces because of the renewed attacks on innocent Nigerians especially in Northern Nigeria and in particular Christians in the north of the country where hundreds of persons mostly children, women and the aged have been maimed and killed in night raids by armed herdsmen, a sad development which has compelled our cry to you in this visit in order to call on you to deploy all at your disposal as a government to halt this senseless blood shedding and massive destruction of lives and property in the land, a situation which could lead to a state of anarchy leading to an unpredictable future.
We are particularly worried at the widespread of insecurity in the country where wanton attacks and killings by armed men identified in various instances as Fulani herdsmen, who have turned bandits now terrorising communities almost on a daily bases and unchallenged despite the huge investments by your government to strengthen the security agencies. Sir, the perpetrators should not be allowed to go scot free. We demand justice for all, no matter the religion, creed, tribe or region of the assailants because of the sanctity of life. It is even more worrisome that these huge numbers of needless deaths in 2018 alone have been recorded in various attacks, especially in the northern states of Benue, Plateau, Taraba, Adamawa, Kaduna, Kwara, Borno, Zamfara, Kogi and other states when the country is not in a state of war.
The most unfortunate incidences that have attracted the attention of the international community to Nigeria for the wrong reasons are the recent killings in Plateau, Adamawa, Benue, Kaduna and Zamfara states among others. While the early morning attack on a Catholic Church in Benue where two Priests and 17 worshippers were killed is still fresh, an Assemblies of God’s Church pastor was killed with his family at Barakin Ladi, a Baptist Pastor and a Pastor’s son were killed, just to mention a few, give a religious coloration to the entire attack which is dangerous for inter-religious harmony in the country.
We also view these attacks as ethnic cleansing, land grabbing and forceful ejection of the native inhabitants from their ancestral land and heritage. What is happening to innocent citizens in Northern Nigeria and in particular Christians is a systemic genocide and must be stopped immediately.
Mr President, we reject the narrative that the attacks on communities in the north are “farmers/herdsmen clash.” How could a war on innocent communities be a ‘clash’ when one group is persistently the attacker, killer, maiming and destroying hapless groups; and the other is regrettably being killed, mutilated with places of worship destroyed?
Why are the attacks and killings not only on the farm but when people are sleeping at night or going about their businesses? How could it be a ‘clash’ when the herdsmen are hunting farmers in their own villages/communities while the farmers simply run for their lives?
How can it be a ‘clash’ when the herdsmen are the predators and the inhabitant/indigenous farmers are the prey? Until we call a disease by its real name and causatives, it would be difficult to correctly diagnose it for the right curative medications.
-Rev Yakubu Pam
Chairman, Northern CAN
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